Historically there has always been a lively research discussion on whether the development of number concept should be considered as innate, or whether the catalyst for the development of the number concept -- and for counting -- is hearing number words combined with seeing concrete examples. One can recognize these theories as the nativist view…

For learning math, non-symbolic quantity skills, symbolic skills and the mapping between number symbols and non-symbolic quantities are all important precursors. Little is known, however, about the interrelated development of these skills. The current study focuses on numerical development by: (a) investigating the structure of non-symbolic,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate children's construction of 10s out of the 1s they have already constructed. It was found that, for many younger children, a dime was something different from 10 pennies even though they could say with confidence that a dime was worth 10 cents. As the children grew older, their performance improved.…

Forty-five children with mathematics learning disabilities, with and without comorbid reading disabilities, were compared to 45 normally achieving peers in tasks assessing basic numerical skills. Children with mathematics disabilities were only impaired when comparing Arabic digits (i.e., symbolic number magnitude) but not when comparing…

Presents evidence that human infants possess a mechanism for determining and representing small numbers of entities and procedures for operating on these representations to extract numerical relationships between them. Presents a model for this mechanism and discusses its relation to later numerical knowledge. Contains 42 references. (MKR)

Ways in which parents, the media and commercial educational materials contribute to the development of erroneous number concepts in pre-school children are identified. Cautions against these practices are suggested which include the use of more than one set of numerals for representing numbers. (JP)

Thirty-five students from all ability levels in the first and second year of secondary school were interviewed to determine their understanding of appropriate application of number operations. Results of the interviews are classified into five different levels of understanding. (DT)

The author criticizes some highly publicized psychological research on the development of number concepts, arguing that the research was poorly executed and emotively reported. (SD)

Seven papers presented at a research conference on number and measurement are presented in this volume. The first paper provides an overview of research concerning number and measurement, and suggests directions for future research. The second paper discusses the relationships between measurement and number concepts, and psychological and…

Described is an activity where base-10 blocks are used to develop students' skills in reading, writing, and visualizing large numbers. An activity sheet that helps students with decimal points is included. (KR)

Children's responses to an alternative model over three lessons were described and their learning assessed in a posttest. Their responses and performances were compared to that of a similar group of children learning through a conventional number line model. The two models were compared from practical and theoretical viewpoints. (Author/CW)

A teaching experiment with six third graders to analyze their ways of operating while solving fraction tasks. Children's quantitative reasoning with fractions was based on their quantitative reasoning with natural numbers. Presents the constructive itinerary of one of the most advanced children in the group. (Contains 44 references.) (Author/MDH)

Presented are the results of an investigation of stimulus integration capabilities of three- and four-year-old children in judgments of small and large numbers. There is much evidence that suggested young children have a concept of number for small numbers, but not for large ones. A concept of number was hypothesized by Piaget to rest on the…

This brief report from the Indigenous Mathematics Project focuses on the way in which numerical reasoning is changing in the Oksapmin community of Papua New Guinea as a function of participation in new social institutions: economic exchange with currency and enrollment in school. Each of these new institutions means that arithmetic problems are…

Directions for eight games which help children learn relationships between numerals and groups they represent. (HS)